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After India's five-wicket defeat against England, former Australia captain Michael Clarke suggested head coach Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill to pick Kuldeep Yadav for the remaining Test matches of the ongoing Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy as the decision is an absolute “no-brainer.”
For the Headingley Test, India featured one spinner, Ravindra Jadeja. However, the left-arm spinner failed to leave an impression as he took just one wicket. Veteran all-rounder Jadeja failed to make an impact against England in front of the left-handed batters.
England opener Ben Duckett kept reverse-sweeping him. Jadeja just came in his own in the final session as he dismissed Ben Stokes. However, by that time, the momentum was already shifted towards the hosts, and England raced to a famous win with Joe Root and Jamie Smith remaining unbeaten.
Clarke reckons that featuring with Kuldeep Yadav in the upcoming Test is the need of the hour. He is a genuine wicket-taker, as per the 2015 World Cup winning captain and doesn't rely much on the pitches' assistance.
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"Bowling-wise, I do not want to be hard on any individual, but I think they’ve got to play Kuldeep Yadav. I think it is an absolute no-brainer. I think he’s a wicket-taker and would have offered a lot more than what he saw the attack do in this Test," Clarke said on the Beyond23 Podcast.
“India have done this for a while. They care so much about extra batting or stacking the batting deep, and they are willing to risk picking the number one spinner to do that. I think to win in England, you’ve got to look to pick 20 wickets," Clarke added.
Clarke also requested Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna to step up, as Jasprit Bumrah won't be able to do the bulk of the job every time. Bumrah picked a fifer in the first innings but went wicketless in the second.
“Bumrah’s a star, he’s leading that attack. But the other three pacers, yes, at stages bowled well, but they need to find more ways of taking wickets, more options and their execution has probably got to be better," Clarke said.
“Jadeja didn’t have the impact that I thought he might have. Particularly in the second innings, I thought there was a lot of rough to the left-hander. I thought he bowled a little bit straight," Clarke added.
The second Test match between India and England is will take place from 2 to 6 July at Edgbaston. England have already announced their squad for the second clash and they've added Jofra Archer to the 18-member side.
England squad for second Test vs India: Ben Stokes (C) Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
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